dsaravanane
Rickshaw Pullers of Kolkata
In kolkata when I roamed the city i surprised one thing was the "mode of Transport", Yes there are many different types of transport like Bus, Train, Tram, Ferry, Taxi, Auto and the Rickshaw pullers. I am very much heard 2 things about Kolkata one is Taxi and the other one is Rickshaw pullers. The moment we planned the trip to Kolkata I decided to have a story about the Rickshaw pullers.
I tried to capture them with the environment they live, where they pull the rickshaw and the people to interact. I tried to covered as much as possible with their actual daily activities rather than having a staged one. My photographs may not fully convey their life and work style but i tried my level best.
I personally felt very bad since they almost all are over 40 years old and they pull the rickshaws in the hot sun and dusty, crowded and narrow streets.
few points about the Rickshaw pullers from the existing documentary around the world;
Hand-pulled rickshaws came to India most likely from China during early 20th century. Kolkata is the only city in India, and one of the few around the world where hand-pulled rickshaws are still operating. Most of them are from the neighboring states like Bihar and Jharkhand and belong to uneducated and poor families. Most sleep, eat and live on the city's crowded pavements.
In most cases they do not own the vehicles, but pay a sizeable portion of their earnings to hire them.
According to the statistics, there are 6500 registered, and a few more thousands unregistered, hand-pulled rickshaws on the streets of Kolkata.
In 2006 the Government of West Bengal proposed a ban on the hand-pulled rickshaw; the authorities had decided the sight of barefoot humans pulling other humans around the city was bad for Calcutta’s image. Their union went to the High Court to oppose the ban and now this case is pending before the court of law since August 2006. All of them are contributing from their earnings to fight against the ban.
The Government is planning for other alternative work to provide them with because if they will stop working as rickshaw pullers they will lose everything they own.
Rickshaw Pullers of Kolkata
In kolkata when I roamed the city i surprised one thing was the "mode of Transport", Yes there are many different types of transport like Bus, Train, Tram, Ferry, Taxi, Auto and the Rickshaw pullers. I am very much heard 2 things about Kolkata one is Taxi and the other one is Rickshaw pullers. The moment we planned the trip to Kolkata I decided to have a story about the Rickshaw pullers.
I tried to capture them with the environment they live, where they pull the rickshaw and the people to interact. I tried to covered as much as possible with their actual daily activities rather than having a staged one. My photographs may not fully convey their life and work style but i tried my level best.
I personally felt very bad since they almost all are over 40 years old and they pull the rickshaws in the hot sun and dusty, crowded and narrow streets.
few points about the Rickshaw pullers from the existing documentary around the world;
Hand-pulled rickshaws came to India most likely from China during early 20th century. Kolkata is the only city in India, and one of the few around the world where hand-pulled rickshaws are still operating. Most of them are from the neighboring states like Bihar and Jharkhand and belong to uneducated and poor families. Most sleep, eat and live on the city's crowded pavements.
In most cases they do not own the vehicles, but pay a sizeable portion of their earnings to hire them.
According to the statistics, there are 6500 registered, and a few more thousands unregistered, hand-pulled rickshaws on the streets of Kolkata.
In 2006 the Government of West Bengal proposed a ban on the hand-pulled rickshaw; the authorities had decided the sight of barefoot humans pulling other humans around the city was bad for Calcutta’s image. Their union went to the High Court to oppose the ban and now this case is pending before the court of law since August 2006. All of them are contributing from their earnings to fight against the ban.
The Government is planning for other alternative work to provide them with because if they will stop working as rickshaw pullers they will lose everything they own.